Daylight
by MrsJacobBlack9999
Summary: Bella visits a bruised and battered Jacob after the newborn battle.


**AN: I was listening to this song and this story came to me. It's not my norm, but I just had to share. Hope you enjoy! :)**

**Many thanks to Astridt244 - pre-reader, beta, and bestie extraordinaire!**

"_And when the daylight comes I'll have to go;_

_but tonight I'm gonna hold you so close."_

He heard the roar of the engine before her monstrosity of a truck even made it to his street. The flash of her headlights and the sound of the tires scraping across the gravel only solidified what he already knew; she was there. His heart swelled at the fact that she had left the bloodsucker behind to come to him. He felt a small flicker of hope that she was coming to stay for good.

He held his breath as he heard her approach. Inhaling deeply as she entered the room, he reveled in her scent.

"Jake." She whimpered as she caught the first glimpse of him since his hasty retreat from the battlefield. He could see it in her eyes; the pure anguish she felt. He knew she felt some responsibility for his pain. He wouldn't allow it. He would die for her and he needed her to know that.

"D-don't…" He struggled. She ran over to him and placed her hand against his lips.

"Don't try to speak."

The feeling of her cool hands against his lips sparked something in him and he planted a kiss inside of her palm. She jerked her hand back in surprise but smiled warmly at him. Still, he could feel the bitter sting of rejection in her actions.

_Here I am waiting, I'll have to leave soon  
Why am I, holding on?  
We knew this day would come, we knew it all along  
How did it, come so fast?  
This is our last night but it's late  
And I'm trying not to sleep  
Cause I know, when I wake, I will have to slip away_

He sighed.

"J-just… get it over with, Bella."

She looked taken aback.

"What? Jake what are you talking about?"

"You know what I'm talking about."

She at least had the decency to look guilty.

"Jake, you need to heal. We shouldn't be talking about this right now."

He couldn't help the frustrated growl that bubbled up from his throat.

"Just do it. I'd rather get all the re-breaking done at once."

She sucked in a sharp breath.

"I'm not trying to break you."

"Aren't you?"

"God, no, Jake! I love you."

He snorted.

"Yeah, but it's just not good enough."

He was beyond angry. He could feel his body starting to tremble. He couldn't believe his stupidity. He had demonstrated his unconditional love for her at every turn, finally gotten her to realize her feelings for him and risked his life to save hers and it had gotten him nowhere. He was completely heartbroken and as much as it was going to hurt him to do so, he had to get some distance from her.

He looked over at her and she was watching him expectedly. Had she been talking this whole time? It didn't matter right now.

"Bella, maybe you should go?"

"What?"

He swallowed audibly.

"I think…you should go."

"But Jake…"

"No, I'm tired of feeling like I'm not good enough for you, Bella. It hurts worse than the actual pain I'm feeling right now. Please…just give me some time."

She stared at him with tears in her eyes.

"Jacob, _please._ You can't just…we _can't_ end things like this. I need you to…"

"To what, Bella? To _understand?_ Well I'm sorry but I can't. You're making the wrong decision. You're choosing _everything_ that's wrong for you but you refuse to see that. You want me to stand by and watch the woman that I _love_ get turned into the one thing that I'm sworn to _destroy. My enemy._ I can't watch you do that." His voice broke with the final sentence.

She immediately went to comfort him. He couldn't believe he was crying; crying over her, _again. _He closed his eyes, trying desperately to fight off the tears that were now free flowing from his eyes. He felt her crawl onto his too small bed and lie down on his '_good side_'; the side that hadn't been destroyed in battle he fought for her. She placed her cool lips against his fevered skin, and the tears continued to fall. He smelled the salt from hers before the first one dropped onto his skin. He wrapped his arm around her and held her tight.

_Why? Why couldn't he let her go? Why couldn't he be enough for her? Why couldn't she understand just how much she meant to him? _

"I'm sorry." She said as though answering his previous thoughts. "You _are_ good enough for me, Jake. You're _better_ than me. You deserve so much better than someone like me."

He let out a bitter chuckle.

"You're exactly what I deserve, Bella. Exactly what I want; what I _need._"

"I can't leave him Jake. You saw what I was like when he left. I can't go through that again."

He growled.

"Don't use that as an excuse Bella. You were getting better and you know it. What you feel for him isn't love. It's obsession."

"I can't live without him."

"And I can't live without you, so I guess I'm just going to die."

She whimpered.

"Don't say that! You have people here that need you. Billy, the pack…"

"Yeah, but not you."

"Jake…"

"Just give me tonight, Bells."

"What?"

"Just give me tonight. Let me have you tonight; and then tomorrow you can go back to living happily ever after with your leech."

He watched with bated breath as she considered his proposition. He saw the acceptance in her eyes before she'd uttered a single word. He couldn't deny the fulfilling sense of victory he felt as she nodded in acquiescence.

"Ok Jake. You can have me. I'm yours tonight."

He couldn't help the sunny smile that spread across his lips. A feeling of joy spread through him as she returned it; after all that _was_ her favorite smile. He pulled her in close to him; to the point where she was lying halfway on top of him.

For a while, they said nothing. They just stared into each other's eyes; a slight touch sometimes passing between them. She was the first one to break the silence.

"That was some kiss today."

He snorted.

"Yeah. I poured everything I had into it." He saw her flinch at the admission. She waited a moment before speaking again.

"I know you did. Can I tell you something?"

"Hmm?"

"That was my first real kiss."

He raised an eyebrow at that.

"You don't kiss your _boyfriend_?"

She snorted.

"Not like that. Not that real. He's afraid he'll hurt me."

He thought it best not to respond to that. This was their night and he didn't want his negative thoughts on the leech to put a damper on things.

"I saw our future, you know."

"What?"

"In that kiss, I saw it all; us growing old together, our children, Charlie and Billy as grandparents. All of it."

He sucked in a breath.

"You had a vision of us?"

She nodded.

"We're we happy?"

"Very."

He knew he shouldn't ask his next question, but he just had to.

"And you don't want that?"

She sighed.

"It's not that I don't want that, Jake. I _want_ the happy ever after, but I just want it in a different way; with another man."

He was right; he didn't want to know the answer to that question. He looked away from her; only to have her pull him back.

"Don't do that, Jake. You wanted to know the answer. You wanted me to tell you."

He nodded. "I know."

He looked into her eyes.

"Do you love me, Bella?"

She nodded emphatically.

"Yes, Jacob. I love you so much. I wish that I could be what you need me to be; but I can't. I'm selfish and stupid and I _know_ that I shouldn't want Edward as much as I do, but I just can't _help_ it. I wish things were normal and that there weren't any monsters or magic. I wish we lived in a perfect world because in that world, we would be together. We would grow old together and we would have children and we would have this great and happy life; but we don't _live_ in that world, Jake."

"You think I don't know that? Gah, Bella…you have no idea how much I wish that we did live in that perfect world. What I wouldn't give to be able to kiss you, to hold you? I wish for it every day."

He watched as she blinked back the tears that were threatening to fall.

"Kiss me, Bella."

"What?"

"Kiss me. You said that you were mine for the night. Please just kiss me."

She bit her lip, momentarily deep in thought, and eventually started to lean in. It was tentative at first; small pecks before he felt her tongue sweep his bottom lip. He immediately allowed her access to his eagerly awaiting tongue. She moaned as he deepened the kiss. There was a brief battle for dominance, but he allowed her to take the lead; not wanting to scare her off. He needed this but he wanted it to be at her pace. He laid back and allowed her to fully take control.

He closed his eyes and allowed the dizzying feeling of euphoria to wash over him; and then he saw it. What first started as an array of brightly colored sparks transformed into a clear picture of the future he so desperately wanted to have. He saw as Bella smiled up at him from the alter, a vision in white as she donned his mother's engagement ring. Then, the scene changed and a slightly older version of her stood by the window in her old room at Charlie's; her stomach round with their first child. Another flash occurred and this time Jacob was walking from the forest, tired after a patrol, when two raven haired children with soulful brown eyes ran to him. He immediately scooped them up and planted a kiss on the beautiful woman who now stood in front of him. One after another the visions came. Switching from scene to scene until he saw their life together come to an end; an elderly looking Bella passing quietly in the night as he watched over her. The vision ended abruptly and Jacob noticed that the weight of Bella's lips had slightly lessened; the kiss now ending.

She peppered his face with kisses and subsequently laid her forehead against his.

"I love you, Jacob Black."

"And I love you, Bella Swan." He sniffled. He hadn't even noticed that he was crying. She lifted her hand to wipe his tears.

"Are you okay?"

He chuckled.

"Nothing about this is okay, honey. But at least I got to see what our life would be like. I can live with that small piece of happiness."

She smiled warmly at him.

"You saw it."

"Yeah; and we were happy. It was so beautiful, Bells. We had such a full life. I don't think I could ever want that with anyone but you."

She rubbed her thumb across his lips.

"But you will Jake. You'll find your imprint one day and you'll forget all about me. I'll be a distant memory."

He sniffed.

"Never. That'll never happen, Bells."

For a moment they were quiet. Bella yawned.

"It's late Jake. We should try to get some sleep."

He shook his head.

"I'm not ready for this night to end, Bells. If I sleep, that just means it'll be over all the more sooner. You sleep; I can tell you're tired."

She smiled before closing her eyes. It took no time for her to drift off.

_Here I am staring at your perfection  
In my arms, so beautiful  
The sky is getting bright, the stars are burning out  
Somebody slow it down  
This is way too hard, cause I know  
When the sun comes up, I will leave  
This is my last glance that will soon be memory_

Jacob cradled Bella's sleeping form against him. He cried silently for hours as he watched her; smoothing her hair back and planting gentle kisses over her face. He couldn't believe that this was it. This was the first and only time he'd get to hold the love of his life in his arms like this.

He never wanted to let her go, but he knew he had to. Although the realization of it pained him, he knew that the love between them was not strong enough to battle her infatuation with the leech. He held her tighter, causing a soft moan to escape her parted lips.

"My Jacob…" she breathed.

He bit back a sob. He was her Jacob; and she would forever be his Bella. No matter what happened; even if she was turned.

He closed his eyes. It seemed as though they had only been shut for a moment before the first rays of the sun started to creep into the room. He panicked. He knew that Bella would awaken shortly and then she would leave him behind. He wouldn't be able to live through that. He closed his eyes against the blinding sunlight and steeled himself. He could hear Bella's breathing change, her heart beat quicken. He felt the last few tears drop before she stirred against him.

"Jake." She whispered.

"Jacob." He continued to feign sleep. He just couldn't face the inevitable. He felt as her face hovered over his own and barely contained the shock he felt as she pressed her lips against his.

"I love you, Jacob Black."

The bed shifted signaling her departure. She lingered in the doorway momentarily before finally exiting the room; leaving her strawberry scent behind. He inhaled her for a final time and waited until he heard the familiar roar of her engine before he finally broke down.

It was over.


End file.
